


splatter of color

by RedFez



Series: grayscale [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-07
Updated: 2014-08-07
Packaged: 2018-02-12 06:27:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2099013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedFez/pseuds/RedFez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Black, gray, and white.  That's all he ever saw.  There were no colors in this dreary world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	splatter of color

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to jump aboard the Soulmate AU train again (tbh, I never actually got off it. I've just been lurking in the shadows.), this time filling the ever popular prompt of "au where everything is black and white until you meet your soulmate  
> ADDITIONALLY: when your soulmate dies, the world goes back to black and white" ([x](http://denmarkswag.tumblr.com/post/83699126169/apharthurkirklands-au-where-everything-is-black))
> 
> Unbetad so any and all mistakes are mine.

Everything was gray.

The grass was gray.

The sky was gray.

Even the damn rainbows, which everybody said were so pretty and colorful, were _gray_.

But Dean was used to it. After all, he'd been seeing in this grayscale his entire life. Everybody saw in black and white until they met their soulmate.

And at 17 years old, Dean had yet to meet his soulmate. Most of his friends hadn't met theirs either, so it wasn't like he was an anomaly or anything. Far from it. The people who met their soulmate in high school or younger were the anomalies. Dean only knew two people who had met their soulmates at such an age; his younger brother, Sammy, and a girl in the grade below him, Kali. Their soulmates, Jessica and Gabriel respectively, were able to grow up with them, and see color for much longer than most pairings.

Dean would lying if said he wasn't jealous of them.

It was hard to live in a gray world. Patterns got distorted and socks didn't always match. There were, of course, things established to make things easier for the colorless - clothes were labelled with their respective colors, art class was an elective no matter the grade, etc. - but despite efforts, it still wasn't enough.

Back to the present.

-x-

"First day of your senior year, Dean!" Mary said excitedly to her eldest son as she bustled around the kitchen, preparing breakfast.

He could only blearily nod in response to his mother's words before dropping into the nearest chair. Staying up late the previous night talking to his best friend, Charlie, had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now, at six in the morning, he was definitely beginning to regret that decision.

"Oh, perk up, honey!" Mary exclaimed as she placed a plate of toast and what appeared to be scrambled eggs in front of him, along with a glass of something. "You know that you have at least three of your classes with Charlie, two with Jo, and lunch with your brother, so you'll know someone in most of your classes."

Dean nodded before beginning to scarf down the food. "Where is Sammy, anyway?" he asked after swallowing.

Mary looked up, where both knew Sam's room was above the dining room. "Sam! Get down here!" she yelled.

Dean laughed before draining the liquid in his glass - orange juice - and then stood up. "I'm going, Mom. Have to pick up Jo and Charlie before school, and you know how they are."

She nodded and sent him off with a quick good luck, and then he was gone.

-x-

In the driveway sat Dean's car, a 1967 Chevy impala his father had passed down to him on his sixteenth birthday. It was Dean's most prized position.

The ride to Charlie's house was short and uneventful. The girl was soon seated in the passenger seat munching on a bagel - to which Dean threatened her with his usual "Leave any crumbs in my car and I will end you," to which she replied with her usual, "Yeah, you've told me, Winchester."

Jo's entrance was a bit more spectacular.

The moment she saw Charlie, her eyes bugged out. "Wow. You have really red hair." Dean turned back and stared at her, to which she replied with, "Damn Dean, those are some green eyes."

Charlie spoke first after that. "Can you see color now, Jo?"

The girl in the back nodded proudly. "I met my soulmate this summer while visiting Bobby." Bobby was an old friend of both the Harvelles and Winchesters, but he lived in South Dakota rather than Kansas. "It's a boy named Adam."

Dean smiled widely at her. "Congrats!" he told her at the same time as Charlie. Jo beamed back.

"Well, let's get this show on the road," Dean said, turning back to the front.

-x-

The first two classes of the day were normal, aside from shop class, which he shared with Jo, who spent the entire time staring around the room in wonder, just taking in everything she'd missed when everything was gray.

Third hour, he had English, which he shared with Charlie. He was looking forward to class, although the teacher was new that year. Someone who, according to his schedule, was named C. Shurley. Before the teacher entered, the class was a buzz in speculation over whether the teacher would be any good. When the teacher entered and began talking, many were disappointed by him. He seemed scared of the students and of being up in front of them.

Fourth hour, history, was uneventful as well, and after that, lunch.

Plopping himself down at the first open table he saw, Dean opened the homemade lunch Mary had packed for him. While waiting for Sam to arrive, he allowed his mind to travel. When Jo had announced that morning that she'd met her soulmate, he'd felt the sting of jealousy. Dean longed to know what it would be like to see in color, to know who his soulmate was, to not have to ache over something he knew existed but couldn't do anything about.

His attention snapped back to his surroundings when he heard someone take a seat beside him, and he turned to see Sam... along with Jessica. He forced down a grimace in exchange for a smile. "Heya, Sammy, Jess," he greeted them.

The both said their polite hellos back before beginning to speak to each other, not including Dean in their conversation. Dean grit his teeth together before going back to eating.

Once lunch was over, Dean left without a word to either Sam or Jess.

-x-

The next two hours of the day were pleasantly normal, both shared with Charlie, and then it was time for his last class of the day, one he shared with Jo.

The class was French, and Dean was not looking forward to it at all. Despite how happy he was for Jo, he didn't want to see that some wonder in her eyes again as she gazed around the classroom.

Dean was happy for her, he really was, but he wanted to meet his own soulmate.

Dean and Jo selected seats right beside each other, and when an unfamiliar person sat in front of Dean, he shrugged it off. He knew most everybody in his grade, but quiz him on those below, and he would receive a big, red F.

After class had begun, and the teacher called role, Dean learned that boy in front of him was one Castiel Novak. Dean decided he liked that name, even if it was a bit strange.

The teacher went through the syllabus quickly, and then launched straight into the first lesson, speaking rapid fire French. Dean could barely keep up.

The bell signaling the end of the day rang, and the strange boy with the name of Castiel disappeared within seconds.

-x-

The next few days continued much in the same way.

Finally, at the end of the week, Dean arrived to class to find Castiel already seated. Jo wasn't there yet - she was using the passing time to text Adam - so Dean felt as if this was good a time as any to introduce himself.

Dean didn't even know why he wanted to, he was content with his circle of friends, but he just felt a pull towards the other boy. He couldn't explain it, he just knew he had to talk to Castiel.

"Hey, I'm Dean," he said as he sat down in the desk next to Castiel. He held his hand out to the other, who switched his gaze up to meet his.

"Castiel," he replied, and as soon as the word left his mouth, the world exploded.

The world was no longer in a grayscale, and though he had no idea what names to assign any of the colors assaulting him, Dean found the color of Castiel's eyes the most captivating of all. He couldn't tear his eyes away.

"You - you're my soulmate," Dean eventually choked out.

Castiel blinked, nodding in agreement, although his face held the same startled expression Dean was sure was on his own.

At that moment, Jo decided to enter. "Dean, you'll nev -" she broke off, seeing his expression. "What happened?" she asked, confused.

Castiel looked up at her. "I'm his soulmate," he said, a small smile quickly replacing his shellshocked look.

"Oh my god," she whispered, "That's great!"

-x-

Dean convinced Castiel to come home with him after school, if only so they could find out more about each other. They already knew the basics; Dean was a grade ahead of Cas, although Cas was 17 as well (Cas' birthday was September 5th, as compared to Dean's being January 24th), Cas had a twin brother named Gabriel who was incidentally the same Gabriel that Dean knew through Kali, Cas had two older brothers, one older sister, and one younger sister besides Gabriel as compared to Dean only having the one brother, and Cas' favorite color was the first he ever saw - the color of Dean's eyes, though he didn't yet have a name for it.

Over the next year, they grew closer and closer, practically inseparable. When it came time for Dean to go to college, he stayed close to Cas, not willing to stray from his side. They saw colors everywhere they looked, and they wouldn't let to of it for the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't read the second part of the grayscale series unless you like angst. For real. I tear everything that is good and happy in this verse to pieces.
> 
> [My tumblr.](http://abaddon.tk/)


End file.
